Taking a Stand

Baby Loquacious has learned to stand...and with a vengeance! She no longer permits us to change her in a supine position, preferring rather for us to perform miraculous and impressive feats of removing soiled (read: poopy) diapers and cleaning off her bottom while she is on her feet.

Hubbs and I have new skills to add to our resumes.

Seriously, it's nuts.  She stands with the aid of ... anything, really.  The ottoman, the mirror (perpendicular to the floor, but she just pushes all of her weight on the thing and heaves herself up), the crib, my legs, the Megablocks table, the diaper box, the couch, the bookshelves... anything is fair game.

Unfortunately, sometimes after she gets up, she's not quite sure how to get back down to a sitting position.  This causes some minor whining and crying, but for the most part she is thrilled to be on her feet and the big grin on her face reflects her excitement at this newfound skill.

Of course, for us it's panic central.  As our OT likes to put it, "sometimes babies like to go on mock suicide missions." Yep, that about sums it up.  We had to move the lamps yesterday.  And her crib.  And a few other "unsafe" items that suddenly became within her reach.  And now that she's standing, cruising will happen in short order, followed by walking.  Oh dear.

I am happy my girl is growing up and hitting her milestones, but it seems like things are just progressing a bit too quickly for my comfort.  Pretty soon she won't be a baby anymore.  In fact, apparently at 10 months she hits "toddler" status.  I will officially be a mother of a toddler.  What?!?

In other news, we've had to confiscate her iPhone.  Someone is developing a bit of a habit, and technically she shouldn't have *any* screen time with TV or iPhones or the like until she's two.  Oops.   (vgfg gv  vv gv vc - Baby L wanted to add that).

The sleep consultant's report comes in later this weekend, but so far we've picked up a few gems:

*consistent routines are best, including times for meals and wind down
*white noise machines are good for masking other noises, musical lullaby toys - not so much
*turn off all musical toys in the evening
*dim lights in the evening
*read the same book(s) over and over again at night to wind her down
*baby massage and firm pressure on the body is actually relaxing

Can't wait to read the report and get this sleep party started!